Remembering God’s goodness to us & accepting correction from others … helps us be Truth for others
Second Sunday of Advent – December 8, 2024
Last week the homily noted that Christ came 2,000 years ago and that our job, today, is to allow Christ to be in us, for the good of others: to be Truth. The Scriptures, this week, help us understand that there is a process to follow so that Christ can enter into us more deeply.
The first step is given to us today in the Responsorial Psalm, reminding us that: “The Lord has done great things for us; we are filled with joy.”
This process of remembering is a spiritual exercise that some do without realising it is a spiritual exercise: it helps us focus on joy, gives us hope, and directs our thoughts to patterns of behaviour that brought joy to us.
Part of the Oblate charism is to pray for 30 minutes every day in silence: oraison. Sometimes, during oraison, we “execute” a few people for making our lives difficult, or day-dream: the best way to re-focus on prayer is to remember, and link God to, the good things we have received.
The Gospel reminds us that, just as the joy of Christ coming into the world required some preparation by John the Baptist so, too, the moments of joy for us required preparation: the hard of work others as they have assisted us reach where we are today.
This helps us read the First Reading with more understanding: it is not just a “feel good” passage to try and make us feel better or give us the impression of hope. It is the culmination of God’s work, God’s Truth, through individuals who cooperated with God.
“since God means to show your splendour to every nation under heaven, since the name God gives you for ever will be, ‘Peace through integrity, and honour through devotedness’.”
We know something about the struggles of the Prophets and John the Baptist through the Bible. So, we should not be surprised to know that we are also expected to help God create these opportunities for joy. Times of honest joy are truly revelations of Christ in our midst.
Perhaps your question is: how can we help prepare for Christ like John the Baptist? There is a key word in the Gospel for the 1st Sunday of Advent: TRUTH.
Perhaps you recall what King Herod said: “Truth? What is that?”
When we are reflective, and we look back on our lives, and the life of our communities, I’m sure we can see that most times of struggle, persecution and suffering were caused by a loss of Truth: sometimes by ourselves, but often caused by others.
When people with power lose the Truth, individuals and whole communities can suffer: eg. corruption and stealing.
The only way for us and our communities to come back to joy is to be people of Truth. The challenging question put to us today is: are we prepared to be people of Truth?
Step 1= to become people of the Truth is to acknowledge those who have helped us to succeed. When we minimise the input/ sacrifices of those who helped us be successful, we teach ourselves a bad habit: that of forgetting what God has done for us through them. It keeps us humble. “I am because we are.”
Step 2 = to listen to those around us who tell us the Truth about ourselves. When we listen to the Truth, which is not always easy, we can correct whatever negative behaviours we may have, so that we minimise contamination of the Truth as we try to share it with others.
And, finally, as we have a right to receive the Truth from others, so we can find meaning, happiness/ success in our lives, we also have a responsibility to give and share Truth to others.
As St Paul says: “Every time I pray for all of you, I pray with joy, remembering how you have helped to spread the Good News from the day you first heard it right up to the present.”
So, Advent calls us to imitate St John the Baptist: to be “a voice cries in the wilderness: Prepare a way for the Lord, make his paths straight.” May we have the courage to begin by “straightening out myself.”
By Gerard Conlan, OMI
